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thbr99

Not surprising as the FSF India is HQed in Kerala, one of the progressive states in India with a high HDI.

https://www.gnu.org/press/2001-07-20-FSF-India.html

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Indian_states_and_te...

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One of the longest serving democratically elected Communist parties leading the state as well.

The Kerala model is indeed awesome, and Communist did great things there. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerala_model

Very true. Most developed state in India

Worlds first solar powered airport too.

https://money.cnn.com/2016/03/14/technology/india-cochin-sol...

I grew up in Kerala in the 80s. When I go back I feel like we have walked backwards in many areas - religious conservatism and fundamentalism are out in the open. The internet had a huge role to play in that. Still better than many other states, but certainly not what it could have been.

There are certainly many good things the Communists did, but it has also been the most violent (by democratic standards, not on a North Korea scale). Now, that isn't surprising because that's been the case with communism throughout history. Back then Stalin posters were everywhere, and most of us were only exposed to one side of such people.

I was born in 1989 and even post-USSR we had lots of books in English and Malayalam translated from Russian. From Raduga publishers, I had an illustrated astronomy book narrated as a grandfather making his kids observe the night sky; a book about a Moscow kid going to the countryside where his father was stationed; a book about a girl who kept on her not-remote farm a tall deer, two wolves (one had offspring that was star of a military parade), a tiger (who died of a heart attack at a zoo) and a boring horse.

"High levels of political participation and activism among ordinary people along with substantial numbers of dedicated leaders at all levels"

It's an interesting point. Political activism has been noted before as a plausible contributor to high social capital (especially as traditional social-capital-providing arrangements tend to recede in modern societies), which in turn is a significant contributor to high quality-of-life.

Of course things are not that great if that very same political activism leads to misguided policies which keep you stuck in the middle-income trap, as we see in so many places in South America. But it seems that a legacy of substantial educational achievement (which is lacking elsewhere) has helped Kerala escape that trap.

Note that Kerala, like the rest of India, is definitely middle income. It just has much better education rates, public health, etc, than most of India.

From the wiki:

Kerala's unusual socioeconomic and demographic situation was summarized by author and environmentalist Bill McKibben:[26]

Kerala, a state in India, is a bizarre anomaly among developing nations, a place that offers real hope for the future of the Third World. Though not much larger than Maryland, Kerala has a population as big as California's and a per capita annual income of less than $300. But its infant mortality rate is very low, its literacy rate among the highest on Earth, and its birthrate below America's and falling faster. Kerala's residents live nearly as long as Americans or Europeans. Though mostly a land of paddy-covered plains, statistically Kerala stands out as the Mount Everest of social development; there's truly no place like it.[26]

Other than high literacy (which means able to sign your own name), I don't understand why Kerala is considered as good exmaple?

1. Due to communist style of functioning, setting up a business is near impossibility. I know friends who moved their business out of state since its marred with strikes.

https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/18-days-after-nri-...

2. It is fast becoming Islamic state of India.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/nov/29/isis-recruiter...

https://m.economictimes.com/news/defence/kerala-coast-on-ale...

https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/nia-conducts-raid-in-t...

3. Infrastructure seems to be dated (single lane road for most part of state) and floods wreak havoc every year.

Tagged as "God's own country" I expect much better from Kerala. However, I always find cliched "most educated" state remarks and self-pat on back without perusing its problems and what is happening to state.

Yeah. See what you want to see and whine. Kerala has it's own problems but none of them isn't something alienated to all other states in India. But there are many things that can be called good attributes of this state that makes it an anomaly among all other states in India.

I am not sure where you got that definition for high literacy.

High literacy in Kerala lead to:

Higher life expectancy, lower infant mortality rate. Higher standard of living, knowing your rights, demand for equal pay, women's empowerment & many more. In Kerala the male to female ratio is healthy unlike rest of India where female feticide is still a problem. Kerala is also way ahead in terms of health & sanitation than rest of India.

While the problems you listed is not unique to Kerala, let me also remind you that India's first IT park is in Kerala and it paved the way for the rest of IT parks in India.

The narrow roads are due to the geography of Kerala which has beautiful winding green mountains, the entire state is on a mountain slopes towards the Arabian sea.

The secular nature of Kerala is worth mentioning too. You will not find any other place in India where people of all faiths live in such harmony & peace. This secular nature of Kerala is one of the reasons why BJP political party is unable to have any headway in Kerala.

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1998/09/poor-bu...

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technopark,_Trivandrum

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